Rameswaram, Aug 19 (PTI) Twelve fishermen from Pamban near here were injured when Sri Lankan naval personnel allegedly assaulted them while they were fishing between Dhanushkodi and Katchatheevu today, police said.

Katchatheevu was ceded by India to Sri Lanka in 1974.

Police said the fishermen told officials on return that they had left Pamban in 50 mechanised boats and that Sri Lankan naval men who came to that area in gas powered boats beat them, resulting in them having to return without fishing.

Four fishermen have been hospitalised and eight treated as out patients, police said.